It's hard to imagine how Microsoft spent all that money acquiring Nokia and the Windows Phone platform remains on a decline. I'm not saying it's written in stone to remain this way but Microsoft has a long uphill battle to even slightly turn things around. It seems the most likely way would be for Microsoft to incur more financial losses to gain market share by trying to undercut whole bunches of smaller companies. I'm sure Microsoft has the funds to do it but unless they can come out with some pretty special smartphones, the future of Windows Phone OS honestly doesn't look all that promising for the next few years.

The entire platform is pointless. It's completely redundant. Apple and Google already cover all ends of the market. Windows Phone brings nothing new to the table. There isn't anything there that is interesting enough to make the platform competitive.

I'm kinda surprised to see the Android growth, even in the low-end market. I finally got a Moto X for my company phone in part because I wanted to have a chance to try out Android and see why so many of my friends say it's so much better than iOS. After two months of use, I can only fathom their claim is based on never having used iOS. All of that tweaking and customization Android users talk about simply isn't there. I haven't found much I can do with my Moto X that I cannot do with my iPhone (aside from widgets - frankly having a live view into my email and calendar right on my home page rocks and I hope widgets become part of iOS 9).

Otherwise I find the Android experience to be frustrating - the interface is clunky and inconsistent. I was hoping for more flexibility with notifications (which is one area where BlackBerry still way outperforms any other platform) as well as the ability to set profiles that you can change easily, or even have your phone select for you based on time and date, and perhaps even location based. iOS doesn't have any of this functionality. I expected the Android platform to and it's really no better than iOS in this regard (and I'm on 4.4.2 which I believe to be the latest Android release).

I think we all agree the BlackBerry platform is near-death; I'd love to see some of its flexibility come to the other platforms.

And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about... I occasionally need to be alerted (even in the middle of the night) when something happens in the office. With iOS (and Android), email and SMS notifications are all-or-nothing. With the BB I can set up filters based on subject/sender/content that will flag a message as high priority and set a special alert tone. I can then set up profiles so that during the day I am alerted to all emails, but after hours the only thing I will hear is a notification for high priority items. And I can set a vacation profile so that the only thing I'll hear is phone calls. I can also set my phone to automatically switch between profiles at certain times of the days.

It may be something few people need but, for those of us who do, it's critical.

Short version...ASOP accounts for 20% of the market. Nearly a quarter of 'total' Android.

I would have thought the percentage of non-Google Android smartphones would be higher than that. Chna is the world's largest smartphone market and I don't think there's too many Google Android phones being sold there. Goog doesn't want to play under Chinese censorship and citizen control rules, and IMHO they deserve some small measure of credit for that

hahahahahaha! Wait, Apple holds 3.6% of the market but sucks 80% of all money in the market. Apple must be a genius! Android tactics is simple:

1. install android in all crappy devices you find and call that device a smartphone.
2. count the number of sales to retailers as real sales
3. BOOM, now you are the "leader" of the market.

But wait, people who buy your "smartphones" don't give a shit to app stores, buying music, buying videos and apps, browsing the web, sending emails, etc., they just make phone calls.

Now you are the king of beggars. While you brag about your leadership, Apple is on the other side of the market with their vacuum cleaners on full steam, sucking all the money on the market and you are fighting with other beggars to get some crumbles.

Android leadership is so crappy that the iPhone appears in all charts as the most used device, most used camera on flickr and instagram, most web traffic, etc. Where are all those trillions of android devices? being used as paper weight?

So what's the solution?

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example" Mark Twain"Just because something is deemed the law doesn't make it just" - SolipsismX

And no doubt, if they show Apple in a positive light, they may get used again. However, I don't place any store in them regardless of how good a light they may show Apple; they destroyed their reputation a long time ago.

Nice bandwagoning in the headline... If there were such a thing as a windows phone fan site their headline would likely read "Android and Windows phone together capture nearly 90% of the total market!"

Apple has the crown for the big statistic for now and the near future, $$$.

I think we all agree the BlackBerry platform is near-death; I'd love to see some of its flexibility come to the other platforms.

Oh gosh I sure hope not, they seem to be bouncing back a little and I'm hoping their new Passport phone will breath a little life in this once great company. I recently bought a Porsche-Design P9882 for my husband as a thank you gift for beeing so wonderful in my time of need. It's a beautiful phone but even better, BB OS 10.3 Beta is friggen awesome, BB Hub is something all phones should have, multitasking is genius, you can watch a movie on NetFlix and still goof around on the device, no phone that I know of supports multi-display like that, displaying the desktop through it's built in HDMI is even good enough to use as a desktop computer, especially now that you can change the display dpi so everything doesn't look so huge, like it does when you connect an Android or iOS device to a monitor or TV, it runs Android apps just fine and I absolutely dig the gesture controls. It's like 10 times better then my P9881, which was the previous model to the one I got him, he bought it as an anniversary gift a couple years back.

So here's hoping some more people notice all of the hard work that BB has put into their OS and phones lately. Have you seen the new Passport, super cool, hardware keyboard, 1:1 aspect ration screen with a 1440 x 1440 Display, Qualcomm 801 CPU, 3 GB Ram, 64GB storage, Mini SD card slot, 13MP camera, yeah, where do I line up to buy one.

When I looked up "Ninjas" in Thesaurus.com, it said "Ninja's can't be found" Well played Ninjas, well played.

And from what I hear.... it's a pretty nice phone for the price... MUCH better than the usual $100 Android phone.

There's a cheap Motorola Android phone that's pretty good... but it doesn't sell nearly the same volume as other Android phones.

The general consensus is... if you've only got $100 to spend... the Lumia 520 is the phone to get.

The Lumia 520 is currently $39.99 at the Microsoft online store. It has in the past gone for anywhere between $50 and $70 consistently. It's a good phone for the price, albeit limited with no front camera, no flash, cpu is slow, etc.

The Lumia 635 is pretty much a successor to the 520 and is similarly disadvantaged with no flash, no front facing camera, etc, but speedier and has expanded memory ability up to 128GB (and you can place apps and video/photos/docs on it.)

Android wise the Moto E and G are excellent phones and priced either at or near $100. Motorola Moto series are all pretty top notch. For the price of the Moto and Lumia phones, you get some great kit.

If I had a C note to spend though, I would opt for the Lumia 635 or Moto G.

I'm kinda surprised to see the Android growth, even in the low-end market. I finally got a Moto X for my company phone in part because I wanted to have a chance to try out Android and see why so many of my friends say it's so much better than iOS. After two months of use, I can only fathom their claim is based on never having used iOS. All of that tweaking and customization Android users talk about simply isn't there. I haven't found much I can do with my Moto X that I cannot do with my iPhone (aside from widgets - frankly having a live view into my email and calendar right on my home page rocks and I hope widgets become part of iOS 9).

Otherwise I find the Android experience to be frustrating - the interface is clunky and inconsistent. I was hoping for more flexibility with notifications (which is one area where BlackBerry still way outperforms any other platform) as well as the ability to set profiles that you can change easily, or even have your phone select for you based on time and date, and perhaps even location based. iOS doesn't have any of this functionality. I expected the Android platform to and it's really no better than iOS in this regard (and I'm on 4.4.2 which I believe to be the latest Android release).

I think we all agree the BlackBerry platform is near-death; I'd love to see some of its flexibility come to the other platforms.

And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about... I occasionally need to be alerted (even in the middle of the night) when something happens in the office. With iOS (and Android), email and SMS notifications are all-or-nothing. With the BB I can set up filters based on subject/sender/content that will flag a message as high priority and set a special alert tone. I can then set up profiles so that during the day I am alerted to all emails, but after hours the only thing I will hear is a notification for high priority items. And I can set a vacation profile so that the only thing I'll hear is phone calls. I can also set my phone to automatically switch between profiles at certain times of the days.

It may be something few people need but, for those of us who do, it's critical.

Wow, your company has severly screwed you over by crippling your phone. In your phones settings are 3 Moto X specific menu's that let you control the Active Display, Touchless Control and Motorola Connect (a nice feature that pushes any incoming notification, email, text or call direct to your computer). You must not have the ability to utilize your phones settings? You might also want to update to the latest Android OS, cause you aren't on it. Or your company has forced you to remain on an outdated OS?

By the way, if you want to set email and SMS quiet times, customize ringtones for specific people, have calls from specific people go straight to voicemail or shut people off completely, you can. I happen to have a stock Moto X and these features are built in.

I don't agree with the article, but I do know Apple is losing market share. I really wish Apple would go back to 'think different' internally.

If you keep trying the same thing expecting different results, maybe shift gears.

I love Apple and all their products, but sometimes, I do get bored with the same ol', same ol',

(keeping each design for 2 years with a minor spec bump and some OS 'features' add ons.)

Switch something up. Do something. Try something Different. I have No idea what that is... wish I did, but there are some really smart people working at Apple. Innovate more.

Maybe try a 2nd line of phones with a New, different OS. Reinvent the phone again in a new way. ( wild idea, that would never happen, i know...)

Don't get me wrong. Apple has a Lot of money and they are very successful at what they do, but that doesn't mean the should put it in neutral and coast on Steve's ideas for the next 5 years. I am also not saying the iOS 8 isn't full of great features, it is, but I do wish I could have a little more freedom for customization of the interface. Maybe something as simple as a toggle switch to turn off auto arrange apps so I can put them anywhere I want. Of course I want more than that, just an example.

Again, I love Apple, but I don't hate windows phone, blackberry, or android. None of those operating systems, devices, or companies that makes those products has ever done anything to me to make me hate them just because I prefer Apple. Nor is anyone who chooses those devices/products stupid for doing so. Just because someone doesn't buy the same phone you bought, doesn't mean you are better than them, or smarter than them. I can guarantee you that right now, somewhere in the world, there is an idiot holding a 5S, that can't keep a job, and a millionaire holding a S5 galaxy.

And from what I hear.... it's a pretty nice phone for the price... MUCH better than the usual $100 Android phone.

There's a cheap Motorola Android phone that's pretty good... but it doesn't sell nearly the same volume as other Android phones.

The general consensus is... if you've only got $100 to spend... the Lumia 520 is the phone to get.

The Lumia 520 is currently $39.99 at the Microsoft online store. It has in the past gone for anywhere between $50 and $70 consistently. It's a good phone for the price, albeit limited with no front camera, no flash, cpu is slow, etc.

The Lumia 635 is pretty much a successor to the 520 and is similarly disadvantaged with no flash, no front facing camera, etc, but speedier and has expanded memory ability up to 128GB (and you can place apps and video/photos/docs on it.)

Android wise the Moto E and G are excellent phones and priced either at or near $100. Motorola Moto series are all pretty top notch. For the price of the Moto and Lumia phones, you get some great kit.

If I had a C note to spend though, I would opt for the Lumia 635 or Moto G.

P. T. Barnum had a sayin' about people like you...

"That (the) world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today." — The Verge

I'm kinda surprised to see the Android growth, even in the low-end market. I finally got a Moto X for my company phone in part because I wanted to have a chance to try out Android and see why so many of my friends say it's so much better than iOS. After two months of use, I can only fathom their claim is based on never having used iOS. All of that tweaking and customization Android users talk about simply isn't there. I haven't found much I can do with my Moto X that I cannot do with my iPhone (aside from widgets - frankly having a live view into my email and calendar right on my home page rocks and I hope widgets become part of iOS 9).

Otherwise I find the Android experience to be frustrating - the interface is clunky and inconsistent. I was hoping for more flexibility with notifications (which is one area where BlackBerry still way outperforms any other platform) as well as the ability to set profiles that you can change easily, or even have your phone select for you based on time and date, and perhaps even location based. iOS doesn't have any of this functionality. I expected the Android platform to and it's really no better than iOS in this regard (and I'm on 4.4.2 which I believe to be the latest Android release).

I think we all agree the BlackBerry platform is near-death; I'd love to see some of its flexibility come to the other platforms.

And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about... I occasionally need to be alerted (even in the middle of the night) when something happens in the office. With iOS (and Android), email and SMS notifications are all-or-nothing. With the BB I can set up filters based on subject/sender/content that will flag a message as high priority and set a special alert tone. I can then set up profiles so that during the day I am alerted to all emails, but after hours the only thing I will hear is a notification for high priority items. And I can set a vacation profile so that the only thing I'll hear is phone calls. I can also set my phone to automatically switch between profiles at certain times of the days.

It may be something few people need but, for those of us who do, it's critical.

Widgets are coming to iOS 8 as part of "extensibility".

Paul Thurrott on iPad (2010): "Anyone who believes this thing is a game changer is a tool. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is."

I don't agree with the article, but I do know Apple is losing market share. I really wish Apple would go back to 'think different' internally.
If you keep trying the same thing expecting different results, maybe shift gears.
I love Apple and all their products, but sometimes, I do get bored with the same ol', same ol',
(keeping each design for 2 years with a minor spec bump and some OS 'features' add ons.)

Switch something up. Do something. Try something Different. I have No idea what that is... wish I did, but there are some really smart people working at Apple. Innovate more.

Maybe try a 2nd line of phones with a New, different OS. Reinvent the phone again in a new way. ( wild idea, that would never happen, i know...)

Don't get me wrong. Apple has a Lot of money and they are very successful at what they do, but that doesn't mean the should put it in neutral and coast on Steve's ideas for the next 5 years. I am also not saying the iOS 8 isn't full of great features, it is, but I do wish I could have a little more freedom for customization of the interface. Maybe something as simple as a toggle switch to turn off auto arrange apps so I can put them anywhere I want. Of course I want more than that, just an example.

Again, I love Apple, but I don't hate windows phone, blackberry, or android. None of those operating systems, devices, or companies that makes those products has ever done anything to me to make me hate them just because I prefer Apple. Nor is anyone who chooses those devices/products stupid for doing so. Just because someone doesn't buy the same phone you bought, doesn't mean you are better than them, or smarter than them. I can guarantee you that right now, somewhere in the world, there is an idiot holding a 5S, that can't keep a job, and a millionaire holding a S5 galaxy.

Is this a joke post? They are making the majority of profits. They don't chase market share for market share's sake.

I own Apple products but.................... oh wait that was me, Relic quietly walks out of the room backwards in slow motion, whistling Dixie, nothing to see here, go on about your business, dodo dootddoot dddooooo ddddaaaaa...........

When I looked up "Ninjas" in Thesaurus.com, it said "Ninja's can't be found" Well played Ninjas, well played.

Before you say that, look at BMW, their margin never changed for decades. It's about brand image that Apple build into loyal customers and new comers too. Ask a BMW owner what car would they want to get next time: a honda, toyota, ford or GM? Don't think so.

You really can't compare BMW (autos) to the smartphone industry. Total sales for BMW in 2013 were 2 million cars (just under that actually). They can continue to find new buyers at the margin in their price range while the smartphone industry is over a billion handsets a year. At that level finding the marginal buyer becomes far more difficult.

Also when you compare a BMW to a its mid range competition or low end competitors there is a sizable quality gap. Much much larger than the current gap between the flagship iphone and the flagship android phones from Samsung, HTC, Xiaomi, etc. As time goes on this feature and quality gap continues to narrow after all there is only so much you can do on a smartphone in hardware and software. It is mostly up to developers and if Android takes 95% share they are going to win the developers and thus the software platform on Android becomes quite valuable.

Couple this narrowing of the quality gap with an enormous gap in price for the phones. Apple will try to sustain a $600 to $900 price (memory configs vary) to the carriers or unlocked while Android flagship sets will come down to the $100 to $200 range and still be the high end phone with on par features (some better, some worse as the releases tic-toc). It's a hard sell to hold the line on margins. Apple already went from 50% margins to the high 30% range. I predict high 20% within 3 years or less.

Also the large 5.5" iphone will further erode tablets and the larger iphone 6 screen will merely serve to plug that hole a bit. Driving revenue higher will get more difficult over time and buybacks will be the ongoing key to try and raise eps.

All that said.....apple isn't going out of business. Apple will make many billions for the foreseeable future. It just may make many fewer billions then they are making now or in the very near future. They will be a healthy company. I'm not sure shareholders will like it if they shrink from a 600B market cap down to a 300B or 400B market cap. that is a 33% to 50% haircut and it would still leave apple with a top 2 or 3 market cap in the world. Most co's would kill for that.

obviously you didn't see the part about being able to move apps WITHOUT AUTO ARRANGE.

WTF are you going to do TS? you have already stated in the past that if apple increased the size of the iPhone you WOULD NOT UPGRADE EVER, because its too big for your little girl sized hands. You have stated this in many of your 140,000 posts from mom's basement.

Since you aren't upgrading, ever, STFU about the new phone, you aren't buying it anyways.

"Except it’s growing every quarter"

You can't lose market share and gain market share at the same time. My statement was about market share. Not Y vs Y sales numbers.

Yes they do, everything stacks to the top left and apps will rearrange their position when you move one of them, with everything shifting to the left (or up, if they're leftmost). For example, you can't put an app in the bottom right of the screen unless there is another app to the immediate left.